Meenzer

Nah, as long as you're not immediately on or adjacent to the Reeperbahn itself I'd say it's fine really. And even then the Reeperbahn is largely fairly tame as long as you're sensible, it's just the general noise and people and chaos that you might be better off slightly away from (even if your sleeping will be of the beer-induced unconsciousness variety). The St. Pauli Ibis I mentioned above basically falls into that category, for example - couple of streets away from the (less nightlife-y end of the) Reeperbahn. Or if you want to go the whole hog in terms of Reeperbahn access and dirt-cheap rooms, there's always this. You get some proper dive hotels in that area too, so be aware - but you know how to read review sites, so aye. To cut a long story short, given the nature of the trip, wouldn't advise against it.

I'm sufficiently bored today that I've installed FM06 on my low-spec netbook and am currently trying to get sacked as quickly as possible by taking over at Manchester United, releasing/selling their entire squad, replacing them with the entire Andorran under-21 squad and playing them in a radical 0-0-0-0-5-5 formation with a centre-forward in goal. It's early October and I'm still in a job despite being bottom of the league with no points and a -246 goal difference. (I've been watching telly too.)

The most exciting thing to happen at a Scottish match is always something hilarious like

Hehe, aye, I thought it might be a bit downmarket from the way you'd put it.

Les Mis is one of the few musicals I've got any real time for, in fact it's probably the only one I actively like as a whole - but that's on stage, with all the grandeur that entails and the option of choosing how involved you decide to become in the whole thing. I'm expecting the constant close-ups and so on in the film to provide emotional button-pressing that's already there in the music/lyrics (and then some!) so doesn't need to be hammered home additionally. Will be going to see it all the same, I'm sure. Totally under the thumb.

(Or if you're really on a budget, there's always http://generatorhostels.com/en/ - I mentioned them in the Hamburg thread too, should be working on commission really. )

Yeah, and a Premier Inn and stuff like that along the Euston Road. The Travelodge on Farringdon Road is close enough too. There's plenty of guest houses along the side-streets near KC that'll do you a cheaper room for the night, but the bed, the bedclothes, the decor and the plumbing will be from the 1950s.

Hey, I know I've piled on a few pounds... Honestly though, I've not played a note on that bloody keyboard since I lived in Germany but I still can't bring myself to chuck it out. It's a hard life being a hoarder.

This reminds me that I've still got one of these gathering dust in the cupboard under the stairs. Must get it out and see just how bad those early-90s learner keyboard sounds are.

I do, but I haven't been in the market anything like that for about 20 years so can't really help a great deal.

There's arguably no one defined city centre in Hamburg as such - the nightlife bits are separate from the shopping bits, so to speak - but public transport is excellent, so I'd say you'll be fine as long as you locate yourselves either: - Near the Hauptbahnhof (main railway station) on the St. Georg side, albeit there are obviously a few dodgier bits around there - think whores, kebab houses, gay leather bars, Parky's house, you get the idea. There's plenty in the cheap(ish) and cheerful category there, anyway, from this Ibis near the Alster lake and a hotel in the Novum family to private rooms in the Generator Hostel if you really want to do it on a budget - I stayed in their Berlin hostel on a stag do once and it was fine for the purpose really, it's not as if you'll be spending much (conscious) time there, after all. - In St. Pauli itself, for easy staggering distance to/from the Reeperbahn, the football, the Schanzenviertel pub/restaurant district that Parky mentioned above, and so on. Might be the best idea for the kind of weekend you have in mind. There's another Ibis there in a perfectly good location, and this place looks kind of intriguing (and is rated very highly on Tripadvisor, perhaps surprisingly!). - As another alternative, by Altona station, which is the centre of public transport gravity on the western side of the centre (and has some decent boozers to the west of the station towards Ottensen, though it's a more residential kind of area). I've stayed at this Best Western before and it was decently priced at the time and perfectly OK, and there are several other hotels along that stretch. Might be a little bit out of the way for what you're after though. That any use to you at all? To be honest, as long as you put yourselves within a couple of minutes of a well-served U-Bahn/S-Bahn station in the city centre - anywhere within that central "loop" you can see here - you'll basically be fine, so by all means go on price as much as anything else.

While I can in no way endorse everything Parky has said about Germany and the Germans based on my time there, fuck me he's hit the nail right on the head with some of it to such an extent that I'm about to memorise some of the lines for my next trip.

This place is on my way into/out of the big bad city. I need never go without quality sausage again. http://www.herman-ze-german.co.uk/

Reminds me of http://theresbearcum.ytmnd.com/

Or "Broccoli Manson".

"Fucksticks".

Engene?

Are these Gene?

longreads.com is also good for that kind of thing.

Was just going to say...

Got given the first season on DVD about 18 months back and still haven't actually watched it. Might just rectify that this weekend.

Aaaand done. Crikey moses. Anyone for a breakfast G&T?